


Lost & Found

by thelostdoitsu



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: AU, M/M, Makkachin - Freeform, Victuri, Yuuri can't stand having someone lose their doggo, eventually, lost dog au, viktuuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9644225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelostdoitsu/pseuds/thelostdoitsu
Summary: In which Victor loses his dog in a foreign country which so happens to be Japan. And Yuuri, and avid dog lover though unhappy with his current position in life, finds a poster asking for help and thinks if he can't make himself happy then he can make someone else happy.“My dog Makkachin ran away! Please help me find him!”Call: xxx-xxxx





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this post: http://mairoko.tumblr.com/post/157036166047/victuuri-week-day-4-free-theme-au-in-which-they

The breeze was growing chilly in Hasetsu, which could only mean that winter was drawing near. The sky had darkened considerably, and the autumn leaves were no longer their rich color, now only faded as they stuck to the ground. It was late. Yuuri’s breath came out as small puffs which dissipated into the air as he jogged. He was coming back home from running some errands earlier in the day, which he didn’t mind so much after being away from home five years. He had recently graduated from college a few weeks ago, finally. His engineering degree was something he was not particularly motivated by, but after many onsen had suddenly gone out of business in their area, his family’s hot springs were bound to be on the same path. The degree might not have been his greatest passion, but he didn’t mind it. It got the bills paid, and his family could keep running their business, which had been a tradition for generations. Besides that, university had been quite fun, especially thanks to his friend, Phichit. Being the socially awkward person he was, Yuuri never got around to making many friends, even at parties. That’s why he was so thankful for his best friend. Without him keeping him in his right mind, he didn’t think he would’ve survived. They had agreed to see each other soon after graduation, and after they met back with their families. Phichit had gone back to his family in Thailand, just as he had gone back to his own in Japan. Though it was strange being back home after so many years in Detroit, every corner brought him nostalgia and an odd, empty feeling. Sure, he was overjoyed to see his parents, and sister, but he couldn’t help feeling something was off. He had graduated, he had a degree, he was home. 

Now what?

Yuuri sighed to himself as he repeated the question over in his mind. It was something he had feared even before going into college. The cluelessness, the uncertainty of his future. He had tried applying for jobs, he had his resume, his skills. But the thought of sitting down at a desk all day, or staring at a computer screen, simply bored him. It was infuriating, being twenty-three years old and still being hesitant about what to do with your life. He thought he should’ve figured it out already. 

Being troubled, he decided to keep jogging for a while more before returning home. Exercise always seemed to relax him. He also could use some to burn the 900 calories he had for dinner, and the lunch and breakfast before that. As much as exercise was his way to cope, eating was his perfect stress reliever. He might have gained quite a few pounds since he arrived, and his sister might like making fun of him, but he didn’t care much now. There was no ‘special someone’ he needed to impress, relationships were the last thing on his mind. Even after he got back, he found out that Yuko, his childhood crush, was married to another one of his friends. He had sulked about it in private for a few days, but soon realized he was being childish and now felt happy for her. That’s just the way life was sometimes, he told himself. 

After a few minutes of blindly jogging, Yuuri found himself rather far from his home. How long had he been thinking? Walking back would take at least 20 minutes! Ah great, at least it wasn’t like he was lost. He knew his hometown north, south, east, west, like the back of his palm. Yuuri was about to turn around before he noticed something on a utility pole. A sheet of paper, with an image of a dog. His dog- no...similar. He slowly walked up to it and stared. No, it was definitely not his dog, but it was a chocolate brown poodle just like the one he had. Yuuri had to turn away and take a small breath before he continued looking at it. Receiving the news of his dog, Vicchan, dying was one of the most heartbreaking things he experienced in his life. It had been about two months now, and just the memory of him, his little pink tongue, and his fluffy tail and ears, it was enough to make him tear up in the slightest. After composing himself, he noticed that there was writing on the paper as well. Not just any writing, but English. Strange, he thought, he didn’t know anyone that could write in English in his town. Maybe it was a tourist, but he couldn’t make sense of why they would want to put up a sign. He proceeded to read it. 

“My dog Makkachin ran away! Please help me find him!”  
Call: xxx-xxxx

The writing was a bit sloppy, and Yuuri could tell that English wasn’t the first language of whoever had written it. Next to the picture, they had drawn a crying face, so Yuuri made up his mind that they must be a kid. With a saddened sigh, Yuuri wondered what to do. He wanted to help, there was no doubt about it. Losing his beloved dog hurt him for weeks and he just couldn’t stand the thought of another person suffering through it. However, he still felt anxious about it. First it was the phone call he had to make. And second, was the worst of all. Yuuri had hope that they would find the dog, but if they didn’t, he didn’t think he could ever forgive himself for breaking a child’s heart. Internally debating with himself for a few minutes, he finally decided that the good weighed more than the possible bad, and he took out his phone. Yuuri started typing the number on the paper, and with slight hesitation, pressed dial. Holding it to his ear, he could see that it started to ring. The silence is when he slowly started to regret it, what if they really couldn’t find the dog and he was just setting himself up for failure. What if the dog was already dead or-

Thankfully, the person picked up before his anxiety got the better of him. Well, it became slightly worse when he realized he needed to actually talk to them. 

“Алло?” 

Yuuri froze. The voice was a man’s, and in a different language, nothing he’d ever heard. Suddenly his worries were at their highest and his first thought was to quickly hang up. However, before he could take that change, the person spoke again.

“Ah- sorry! Or- Gomen’nasai?” He quickly excused himself, sounding so genuine, that Yuuri relaxed a bit. Their Japanese pronunciation was awful, thank god he spoke English. 

“No, it’s alright, I can understand English. Um, I found your flyer, about your dog? I’m very sorry about what happened” Yuuri began, in a quiet tone. He wasn’t very good at comforting people, he suddenly wished he had asked Phichit about what he should say. The guy was the best at consoling. 

“Really?! You’re the only one who called!” The voice blurt out, followed by a slight sniffling noise. Was he crying? “Thank you, thank you!” 

“I-It’s no problem! Um, I’m sure you really want him back so I thought I’d help you...” Yuuri stuttered out, a bit taken aback by the loudness and emotion of the other. 

“Victor. You can call me Victor!” 

“Oh, uh, well I want to help you, Victor. You can call me Yuuri then” 

“Yuuri! Thank you, Yuuri! My dear Makkachin is all alone! I’m all alone! He’s a curious puppy, sometimes too curious. I was walking with him, when suddenly he ran off to chase something he’d seen, I don’t know what. He doesn’t like leashes so I didn’t have on on him! I tried to run after him, but he’s very fast. And then before I knew it, I couldn’t see his fluffy brown fur anymore and I had no idea where he went! I looked for him all day yesterday and I found nothing. Yuuri please help me!” 

At first Yuuri had been skeptical of him, but those doubts were no longer in place. He sounded so pained, so truthful. The emotions were clear in his voice, and he believed every word he said. Suddenly he wanted nothing but to help this poor stranger and his cute dog, they seemed to be very close. With a soft sigh, he made up his mind, hoping he wouldn’t regret it later like he did most times. 

“I’ll try my best. I-..I know how you feel. I lost my own dog a couple of months ago. I don’t want the same thing to happen to anyone else”

“Oh, that’s awful! But you did find him again, right?”

The sound of silence responded to that. Yuuri was trying hard not to tear up, he clearly was still not over it no matter how long he told himself he needed to. He was glad though, when he realized Victor got the hint because he spoke again, changing the subject. 

“Can we meet soon? What’s the best time for you, I can do any time” 

“Well, I don’t want to make you wait too long, so...would tomorrow be good? I think I’m free sometime in the afternoon”

“Oh, yes, tomorrow is perfect! Thank you!”

Yuuri smiled in the slightest, feeling proud of himself for offering help and not bailing at the last second. He was actually kind of excited to see this Victor guy in person. He sounded nice enough, he wondered what he looked like. His accent was a little weird, was he Russian? 

“Okay, tomorrow then. Where do you want to meet up?”

“I’m really sorry, Yuuri, I don’t know my way around here very much. Can we meet at the pole? With my flyer on it? We can go somewhere else after that, I promise” 

Of course, why did he think he could ask him that. He could barely speak Japanese how could he expect him to get around on his own* 

“No,no that’s perfectly fine, I understand. Tomorrow then, at let’s say...two?”

“Yes, two! I’ll be there!”

“Okay, I’ll see you then?”

“Yes, thank you again! You’re wonderful, Yuuri! Thank you so much!” 

Yuuri chuckled quietly, the words leaving him a bit giddy if he was honest. 

“Bye, Victor” He mumbled before ending the call. He then entered the number as one of his contacts before putting his phone back into his pocket and began walking home with a small smile. Victor, he wondered what he would be like in person. Maybe after they found his dog, he could be his friend.


	2. Chapter 2

“Yuuri! Breakfast is ready!” 

He heard his sister, Mari, call to him from downstairs. It was morning already, and he had been awake for hours, still lying on his bed.

“Coming!” Yuuri called back, sighing before he sat up and finally decided to get ready. It was no lie, he was nervous about meeting this stranger in person. Even if they were only going to walk around to look for his dog, he hoped it wouldn’t be too awkward. He also hoped that they had a few things in common otherwise it would end up being a silent walk and that’s the last thing Yuuri wanted; an uncomfortable social situation. He made up little scenarios in his head as he took a brisk shower and put on some clothes. He thought of what to do in the worst cases and then that way, he’d be ready beforehand. It was something he did to help him be less nervous. For example, if they struck awkward silence, he could always bring up his dog. The guy seemed to love him a lot so there was no doubt that he’d want to talk about him. And Yuuri could just listen then, something he was naturally good at. As soon as he was done getting ready, and satisfied with the scenarios he’d thought up, Yuuri headed downstairs where breakfast was waiting. He took a seat next to Mari, who was just about done eating.

“Finally, and I thought you’d be dressed nicely for the amount of time you took up there” she grumbled, taking a cigarette from her pocket and placing it between help lips once she was done eating.

“I was just thinking” Yuuri casually replied, already used to her teasing so he didn’t think much about it as he began eating.

“Thinking, huh?” Mari repeated, now lighting the cigarette to smoke. “I hope it’s about that job I told you about yesterday. You know the deadline for applying is soon, in a couple of weeks.”

Yuuri tried not to sound exasperated with the topic of it because he knew she was only trying to help, but he really was. If he really wanted an office job like that, in the city, he would’ve already found one himself. “I’m still considering it.” He lied, staring at the plate of tamagoyaki in front of him. “I just want to know if it’s something that’s right for me” 

“Really? Well I think you should stop being so picky. It’s your first professional job, you just can’t know what’s right for you until you try a few different companies. No one gets it right on the first try.” 

“I guess so, thanks” Yuuri replied with a small smile. She did have a point, but he felt reluctant to apply for something he didn’t particularly care for. 

Mari then got up to put her plates away before she sighed and turned back to look at him. “Well, time for my shift. You going somewhere or helping out?”

“Oh, I’m actually going to go out for a while. There...there is this guy who lost his dog and I want to help him find it” 

Mari looked at him as if he was crazy, then just shrugged, beginning to walk away. “You are so weird. Maybe he can convince you to finally apply for the job, I’m telling you it’s too good of an offer to pass up.” And with that, she left, leaving Yuuri to finish up his breakfast alone. 

Yuuri ended up scrolling through social media as he ate, browsing through the news, which didn’t get him in a good mood so he switched to snapchat, remembering to keep up the 217 day streak with Phichit. He chuckled to himself as he remembered the day when he accidentally forgot to snap him back and ruined their over 100 day streak. Phichit got so angry, but he really couldn't take it seriously because it was over a stupid streak. He learned from his mistake, though, and was now keeping up everyday. 

A few minutes later, Yuuri had finished his breakfast, and he got up to wash his dishes. Once he was done he looked at the time, and saw he still had a couple of hours before 2:00. Just enough time to complete an application, he thought miserably. Maybe Mari was right, he shouldn’t be so picky over a job. And it was only applying after all, it’s not like that would guarantee he’d get it immediately. He debated it, before ultimately giving up and walking back upstairs to his room. He grabbed his laptop, searched for the link his sister had given him, and began to fill out his information. All was going well for the first half of it. His name, address, and contact information, while time consuming, was easy to type in. He was feeling quite confident until he got to the short answer part. 

“Why do you think you’ll be a good candidate for this position?” He read quietly to himself, then just stared blankly at the screen. Yuuri leaned back on his chair with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. 

“I don’t even know if I want this position in the first place…” He mumbled hopelessly, knowing there was no way to answer the question unless he lied. He decided to skip it and move on to the next one, which wasn’t any better.

“What separates you from other applicants to this position?” It read, and Yuuri had lost pretty much all the courage he had built up from before. “Honestly, there’s probably countless people who want this job more than I do.” He sighed, and looked up to the ceiling as if the answers to life would be there. “Maybe I should just give up...there’s no point if all I do is lie here…” 

It was at that moment, that he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he took it out, glad to have a distraction. However, he couldn’t have predicted who it was that texted him. As the name lit up on the screen, his eyes widened a bit. Out of fear, or surprise, or shock, he didn’t know, but it was Victor. 

“Good afternoon, Yuuri! I just wanted to thank you again for helping me! See you soon.” 

The text read, complete with a smiley face emoji at the end of it. Yuuri couldn’t decide if that was really sweet or really weird. Maybe a bit of both. He didn’t really know him at all, so he made up his mind not to judge him so harshly just yet. Nonetheless, he wanted to reply back, just to not seem rude. He thought about what to say for a second before he texted him.

“No problem! I hope we find him soon” 

There, that wasn’t so bad. Yuuri was pretty satisfied with how their conversations were going so far, before he decided to check on the time. Oh 1:47 just minutes until- wait what? He bolted up from his seat and scrambled to his feet, blinking a few times to make sure he was seeing it right. Yup, that was the time. Sure he wasn’t incredibly late just yet but he still had to find the damn pole and walk to it! 

“Crarp, crap, crap!” He muttered under his breath, stuffing his phone, keys, and wallet into his pocket, then rushing over to the bathroom to make sure he didn’t look too much like he had just experienced an existential crisis. Moments later, he was out the door of their family’s Yu-topia and rushing towards wherever he remembered. 

1:49

...turn a corner here, no wait- I was walking in a straight line until-

1:55

No, no I remember, it was by that convenience store, the one past the-

1:59

Wait what? It should be around here! I know it!

2:04

How many damn poles exist in this town?!

2:07

Crap! I think that’s him, he’s already there, oh god. Maybe I should turn back, it’s too late now. Ugh but I promised to help him. Shit! I think he saw me! Noooooo! Act normal! Act normal!

“H-Hi, is- are...are you Victor, by any chance…?” Yuuri stuttered out, still trying to catch his breath from the jogging. Yup, he wasn’t in shape at all. 

“Yuuri! I’m so glad you came!” Victor replied, looking absolutely ecstatic about it. His sea blue eyes were wide and thrilled, while his mouth was shaped almost into a heart with that big smile. 

“Y-Yeah, sorry about the wait…” He replied quietly, though he still wasn’t able to take his eyes off him. So this was Victor then. Platinum blonde hair, blue eyes that sparkled miraculously, and a well toned body that was nicely complimented by his fitted clothes. God, he could practically see the muscles under his shirt. Dammit, he was hot. He wasn’t good with hot people! 

“No, no, it’s fine! I’m just really happy someone wanted to help me out!” Victor grinned at him, stepping forwards, a little bit too close for comfort for Yuuri. “Thank you for your help, I’ve been looking everywhere for Makkachin, but I didn’t want to go to far since I’d get lost myself.”

Yuuri didn’t step back, for fear of seeming rude, but he looked pretty uncomfortable. “Oh um, I can understand that…” He mumbled, now looking down to the ground.   
Victor’s grin faded a little as he saw that the other wasn’t particularly as excited as he was, and he took a step back, confused. Had he come one too strong? “You know your way around here, right? So we won’t get lost?”

Yuuri could breathe a bit easier now, glad that Victor seemed to recognize something was wrong. He looked up again, nodding slowly. “Yes, we won’t get lost. Should we, um...start looking now?”

Victor’s grin soon appeared again once he realized that he was just adorably shy. He wasn’t used to people reacting like that. He was used to screaming fans, begging for autographs, and getting recognized at every street corner. Hence, why he was here now. “We should! Where do you think we should look first?”

“Well, where was the last time you saw him?” 

“Hm, I was walking him by the park, heading towards the beach. We never got there though, he ran away sometime between those places.” 

“Alright, good, so we have some idea of where he might be.” Yuuri resolved, thinking about where the dog could’ve run off. “Let’s check the park first” He decided, and began walking in the direction of it. Victor nodded in agreement and followed beside him. That’s the moment Yuuri thought would get awkward; when they were just walking side by side. He thought they would both end up not knowing what to say since the only thing that brought them together was the lost dog. 

However, Victor seemed to have other plans in his mind. He began talking just as quickly as they began walking, and that surprised Yuuri. 

“So, Yuuri, you live around here? What do you do?” He began. 

“Huh? Well uh, yes I live here. I suppose I’m just looking for jobs at the moment. I graduated college a few weeks ago in Detroit so…”

“Wow! Detroit? That’s in America right? It must be very different.” Victor replied with the friendliest smile the other had seen. He seemed to immersed in what he had to say and he didn’t even think it was that interesting. Yeah in Detroit so what? It wasn’t Harvard or anything like that.

“It is, yeah. The food definitely was one of the most different things. The school was also huge, I thought I’d get lost each time I walked around.” He chuckled faintly, remembering his time there now.

“Hah, really? I think I’d be too afraid to want to study abroad, in a different language than I was used to.” Victor replied, to Yuuri’s surprise. From what he perceived, he thought he must be a risk taker. “But it sounds exciting!” Oh, there it was. 

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. How about you? Where are you from?” Yuuri asked curiously, wanting to know more about him. Even though he handleled himself so freely, there was still a mysterious air about him that coaxed him to find out more things. 

“Oh, I’m from St. Petersburg. Russia.” Yuuri guessed right, apparently. “I went to school there, college and everything, not very exciting” Victor shrugged a little, trying to pass it off as uninteresting. Though it seemed like he wasn’t fully saying everything, Yuuri could tell. But he wasn’t going to press the matter. He didn’t have to tell him his life story, they had really just met. “Anyways, you said you were looking for a job? What do you want to do?”

“Well, I’ve never been to Russia so it’s interesting for me.” Yuuri mumbled quickly before he sighed, it was the age old question. What do you want to do with your life? “I-...I don’t really like to talk about it…” He muttered, looking straight ahead as they walked. 

Victor’s smile faded a little when he responded like that, wondering if there was any way he could help him. “No? I understand...I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to study in university” He hoped that would make him feel better. 

Yuuri looked back at him in confusion at that. This guy just kept surprising him. He carried himself with such confidence and yet he hadn’t known what he wanted to study? He just couldn’t help but wonder, how? “...What did you end up studying then?” he asked quietly. Maybe he had chosen something he didn’t particularly like either. 

“Well, I choose theatre. I was convinced by some friends, that I was good at acting. So I decided to pursue that.” Victor shrugged, and Yuuri waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. 

“Are you an actor now then?” He continued after a brief moment of silence. 

“No, I wouldn’t call myself...that” Victor replied, once again seeming like the wasn’t telling him the whole truth of it. And once again he tried to shift the conversation back to Yuuri. “I’m curious though, what did you study if you aren’t sure what job to look for?” 

Yuuri could sense that they were both trying to hide something from the other, and it frustrated him slightly. But then again, they had just met, they were allowed to keep some things private. “Engineering. Industrial engineering” He simply said, his eyes scanning the area as he saw they had arrived at the park. There weren’t many people around, and there wasn’t sign of any dog either. “I like it, but I don’t think I could spend all day doing it, let alone years.” He sighed, not believing he was spilling all of this out to a person he barely knew, yet he couldn’t tell his own family.   
The other only smiled, feeling like he really was getting to know him better, and he liked that. Yuuri was a very interesting person to him. “Then let’s talk about what you do want to do all day, and for years” Victor decided right then, making the Japanese man look towards him again with wide eyes. 

“What? Well, that’s the problem, I don’t know!” he frowned a bit, not sure Victor was really understanding him at all. 

But Victor knew better and he shook his head. “Yes you do! You probably forgot in all these years of focusing on engineering and convincing yourself that’s what you wanted to do. But I know you do, Yuuri” He persisted, and his words really did make Yuuri think. Was there something he had forgotten? Something he was happy doing but then pushed aside in order to focus on his studies. Something that he was passionate about, but decided to forget so he could-

“Ice skating.” He suddenly blurted out, now thinking out loud. He blushed slightly as he realized he had just said it, but it wasn’t like Victor was going to judge him for it right? “I- I used to like it a lot when I was a kid. There’s a rink right beside where I live, the Ice Castle. I went skating there every day. But...as you can probably guess, I decided to give it up so I could go study in Detroit.” Wow, he suddenly felt a lot better once he got that off his chest. Why had he just told a stranger his deepest secrets? Now aside from him only Phichit knew, and even he didn’t know the full story. He thought he preferred his major over figure skating. Yuuri then looked towards Victor, wondering what his reaction was. 

Oh god, he wasn’t expecting that at all. Victor looked shocked, or was that fear? Anger? Some strong emotion Yuuri couldn’t figure out? Whatever it was, he was now panicking because maybe he had said something he shouldn’t have. Did ice skating trigger a bad memory? Did VIctor hate ice skating and any mention of it? Oh god, maybe he hated him now! 

“S-sorry! I didn’t mean to-”

“You like to ice skate?” He was cut off by Victor, whose expression had changed to an incredibly happy one? His mood changes were too much for Yuuri to understand. But he really looked completely thrilled. Even his eyes seemed to gleam. 

“Uh...y-yeah” Yuuri mumbled quietly, confused as hell. “Is that weird? I’m sor-”

“No! I love ice skating!”

What

“W-what?” 

“Really! I do!” Victor nodded enthusiastically, opening his mouth to say something else, but the thought otherwise and remained silent, except for the happiness radiating around him. Yuuri couldn’t believe it. 

“Seriously? You’re...you’re not just saying that are you?” He wondered, a bit skeptical of it because normally things in his life didn’t go this well. 

“No, no! You said there was a rink nearby? We should go there one day!” Victor stopped walking for a second, his blue eyes fixed on Yuuri now. 

“S-should we? I-..I don’t know I haven’t skated in years. Not since I was like what...twelve?” Yuuri mumbled, refusing to meet his gaze. That, and he was self conscious about his body. He would get tired after at least five minutes out there. He was in no shape to skate. Victor on the other hand, seemed like the perfect skater. He wondered why he hadn’t taken it up professionally. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about being good at it, it’s just to have fun right?” Victor grinned at him, completely fixated on the idea now. Yuuri didn’t think he could even try to change his mind now, sohe just sighed softly and shrugged. 

“I-..okay fine, we can. But- but not until we find your dog!”

“Makkachin! Oh, I got so caught up in the conversation, I almost forgot.” That seemed to change the topic quite quickly, and Victor was no longer by his side but frantically searching around the park. 

Yuuri chuckled a bit as he watched him run around. He really loved his dog, didn’t he? Soon he joined him as well, walking around and calling out the dog’s name to see if he would respond. He really hoped they’d find him soon, Victor was such a nice person, he didn’t deserve to lose his dog the way he did. 

***

“Victor, we should probably start heading back. It’s getting dark out..”

It was evening, around 5:00. Now that winter was coming, the daylight hours were decreasing and it began to grow darker earlier. Yuuri did want to keep looking, but they couldn’t search in the dark. Plus, it was getting colder as well. 

“Just a few more minutes? I think we’re getting close, Yuuri!” Victor replied, searching for nonexistent pawprints on the beach. The other sighed and shook his head, walking over to him.

“We can keep looking tomorrow, okay? We won’t be able to see anything in the dark and we’ll be freezing as well. You don’t want to get sick do you?”

“But what about Makkachin? He’s all alone in the dark and cold!” The Russian wailed, looking back at him with a fearful expression. 

“He’s-..he’s a smart dog, right? He can figure out where to find shelter. The people in Hasetsu are very nice, he’ll have no trouble” 

Victor hesitated for a minute, only because he wanted to convince himself that he was right. “You promise?”

“Yes, Victor I promise” Yuuri replied with a nod, then began walking back “Now come on, you think you can figure out the way to your house if I lead you back to the pole?” 

“I think so, yes” He recalled, hoping that by the time they go back it wouldn’t be too dark to see. 

“Good, let’s go then” 

*** 

Back at the famous ‘pole’, Yuuri stopped to say goodbye before he would walk back to his own home. Their little adventure had been a ride full of emotions, but it also had been fun. Yuuri was glad to have someone he could tell his troubles to, who didn’t judge him based on the actions he’d taken. It was refreshing, he was already looking forward to the next day.

“So...this is it then. Uh, should we meet here again tomorrow, same time?”

“Sounds perfect!” Victor grinned at him, clearly excited about it as he was. 

“Alright well, goodnight then!” Yuuri mumbled quickly and flashed him a small smile before he turned around. However, before he could leave, he felt a hand grab his arm and he stopped, looking back to see Victor facing him. 

“Wait a moment, I need to thank you again, Yuuri. For today, and being so open with me. I think I want to know more about you, if that’s okay. You’re a very interesting person, even though you may think otherwise…” He mumbled to him, once again, too close for Yuuri’s comfort. His eyes were so blue, even in the dark he could see them shine clearly. They were staring back at him, intensely. So it was only natural that he scrambled away with a bright red blush.

“M-more? W-wha? Uh! W-well I-...maybe. I don’t know! I- I think I should just go now! So uh, bye!” And Yuuri fled the scene, leaving a dumbfounded Victor behind. As he ran, he thought he might die of embarrassment. 

“He wants to know more? What does that even mean!” He muttered to himself, still trying to stop blushing. “I feel so stupid...whenever he gets that close my first instinct is to run away. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. Yeah...let’s leave it at that” Yuuri sighed, and hoped Victor didn’t get too upset. 

***

Yuuri arrived back home just in time for dinner, but even then he was still thinking about Victor. Especially what they talked about. He hadn’t mentioned his own passion for ice skating to anyone in years, and now Victor wanted to skate with him? No, he’ll be a total failure on ice if he didn’t lose some weight first. He decided to go work out first thing in the morning, it was necessary. Once he finished dinner, he felt pretty tired so he went upstairs to get ready for bed. Though on the way there, he passed by Mari, who called to him.

“Yuuri, mom said she wanted to talk to you”

Ugh, it must be about that damn job application.

“Ah, I’m feeling pretty tired, tell her I’ll talk tomorrow” he mumbled, and rushed to his room before his sister could object. Whew, nothing like avoiding responsibilities. But he really was tired after walking around for so long. Once his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it seems a little rushed, I'll revise it later.   
> I'll write some of Victor's backstory soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Yuuri woke up with a certain promise he had made himself yesterday in mind; however, his body didn’t seem to like the idea of waking up earlier than usual. He groaned into his pillow as he blindly reached to turn off the alarm on his phone. He had set it the other night, very determined to get up early to go work out. Now he was anything but determined. He couldn’t understand how other people did something like this every day. Maybe Victor did it, he did have a nice body after all. Well, from what he could see. Yuuri let his sleep-hazed mind dwell on that thought for a moment, before he realized what he was doing and blushed. They had only just met! What was he thinking? With a sigh, Yuuri found the motivation to get up and get dressed in the few workout clothes he owned; just a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. He quietly walked out from his room and headed downstairs, where no one was even awake yet. He hoped they wouldn’t panic if they saw he was gone, but he would probably return by the time he usually woke up so he didn’t think that would be a problem. 

Yuuri did a few laps around the area, until he felt slightly lightheaded and with a sense that this was going to be harder than he had expected. He returned home about an hour later, tired, and slightly disappointed with himself, but still glad he attempted to do something. 

“Yuuri! You’re up early this morning…” His sister Mari called to him when he got back. Yuuri grunted in response, only wanting to collapse back on his bed and sleep in for the rest of the day. However, he forced himself to keep on walking all the way to his room.

“Yeah, I wanted to go for a jog” He explained quietly, hoping she wouldn’t jump to any conclusions, but as usual, she did.

“A jog? Did you want to impress someone? The lazy brother I have would never go for a jog or wake up this early just for himself” 

There it was. Yuuri sighed and shook his head, giving her an innocent smile. “No, no I just thought it was about time” He didn’t say exactly what it was time for because by then he was rushing towards his room. But his sister’s words gave him something else to think about. Of course he wasn’t doing this for Victor. This was for himself, to save himself the embarrassment of being terrible at ice skating because his center of balance was so off from what he was used to. He hadn’t skated in years, what on Earth was he thinking. Now Victor probably thought he had some sort of hidden talent and wanted to be amazed. Oh great. 

Yuuri hopped into the shower short afterwards, just the thing to relax him. He thought about meeting Victor again and what they would talk about. He’d definitely avoid bringing up ice skating again. Though he thought of asking more questions about Victor’s life. He was curious about why he travelled to Japan in the first place. Was he looking for something? Someone? He wanted to ask, but at the same time he didn’t want to seem rude. It’s not like they were just hanging out as friends, they were supposed to be looking for his lost dog! With new determination, Yuuri exited the shower and got dressed. Then he headed downstairs for breakfast. It took only a few words to shatter the confidence he had built up.

“Did you talk to mom yet?” Mari questioned, which reminded him of last night. Oh right, she wanted to talk to him about the stupid application. Ugh, couldn’t it wait? He wanted to avoid it. 

“Uhh...yeah! I talked to her” He quickly lied, eating his breakfast to avoid saying anything more about it. Mari looked at him suspiciously for a moment before she shrugged and finished her own breakfast before standing up. 

“Then I’m going to work, you’ll take care of it right?” 

“Uh, yeah, I will” Yuuri lied again, this time with more hesitation because by this point he was assuming that his mom had wanted to talk about the application. He just hoped he was right. 

After breakfast, he saw that he still had an hour, just like yesterday, before he was supposed to meet up with Victor. Once again, he forced himself to go to his room, open his laptop, and start working on the same questions. Why do I want this job? Why will I be better than others at it? Do I even want this job? What other job could I want? What if I don’t want a job?

But after an hour, once again, he had done no progress and had earned a headache. This time, he was careful to check the time, and even left a few minutes early. Not that he minded because the meeting saved him from spending more time evaluating his own future. He quickly put on his coat and shoes and rushed out, heading to the destination which was simply known as ‘the pole’. 

Surprisingly, when he got there, Victor wasn’t there. He looked at the time on his phone: 2:04. Well, he can’t blame him for being a few minutes late. After all, he was a full seven minutes to their first meeting. And so he waited, and waited, and waited. Until he grew tired of waiting and it was 2:30. Then it hit him. Victor wasn’t coming because he didn’t want to talk to him anymore. That had to be it. He had only pretended to be nice, all the way to the end. All this time he never had truly enjoyed being with him. That’s why he wasn’t showing up, not even for the sake of his dog. He couldn’t blame him for that either, he didn’t think he was a particularly interesting person himself. Wow, and he really thought someone as handsome and great as Victor would actually find interest in him, how pathetic. 

Yuuri drowned himself in those thoughts for what seemed like hours, before he looked at the time again. No surprise, it was almost 3. He should go home. With reluctant steps, he slowly but surely started walking the way he came from, his head hung low almost in shame for thinking they would be meeting again. It wasn’t until he felt a raindrop roll down his cheek that he looked up again. Wait- that wasn’t rain. Why was he crying?! Yuuri was shocked at himself, crying over such a stupid thing. Had he no self control? What if someone saw?! Scared that someone might, he quickly tried to wipe the tears away, until he heard footsteps rapidly approach behind him. That just made him more embarrassed, he hoped it was no one he knew. But with his luck, the person behind him just happened to be-

“Yuuri! Wait! I’m here!” A voice called, Victor called, still rushing towards him. Yuuri froze, unsure if he should actually wait or just run away. Even if he did want to run away, he found that his legs wouldn’t move. He was stuck until Victor caught up with him, clearly out of breath. He paused for a moment to regain it before he looked up at him with a smile. 

“I’m sorry I’m so late. You must have been worried! There was just a phone call I had to take, and it took much longer than I expected. Hah, at least it’s over now…” He sighed softly, then frowned a little when he saw that Yuuri hadn’t said anything. He leaned forwards in curiousity. “Yuuri? Are you okay?”

Yuuri was still pretty much frozen. Now that he had heard Victor’s reason, he felt foolish that he had thought about all those other things. Of course, Victor had other things to do, other people to talk to. Why was he being so selfish? He instinctively leaned back when Victor got close, and finally looked up at him, nodding quickly

“Y-yeah! Yes, I’m fine just fine!” He laughed awkwardly, but he had a feeling Victor saw right through him. And he was right. The Russian looked completely unconvinced, but to his surprise he just smiled.

“Okay! Then should we start looking?”

“U-um, yeah” Yuuri timidly smiled back, actually glad that Victor didn’t press on the subject any more. He didn’t want to explain that he thought Victor was too good for him. He still thought of it as true, but saying it would just lead to more problems he didn’t want to have. 

“Great! I think I remember a little more. We should start where we left off, the beach. Is that a good idea?”

Yuuri nodded to him and began walking, wondering how he’d open up to him again. 

***

The talking was much less awkward than Yuuri had expected it to be. There was almost no silence between them, Victor did a great job in filling it in whenever he ran out of steam. 

It began in common ground, talking about the town, dogs, and hobbies. Then it suddenly evolved when they landed into the topic of ice skating. The conversation shifted to lovers, dreams, and how amazing it felt to glide on ice beneath their feet, fully in control, but at the same time, free. Apparently Victor had experience with a few relationships back in Russia. He didn’t mention the gender, but Yuuri guessed they would be girls. He also didn’t dare ask if he was single now, he thought it wasn’t any of his business to get into. However, if he had to guess, he would assume he was. Victor didn’t talk about them with enthusiasm or vigor, his eyes didn’t light up and he didn’t smile much. He was glad when the topic was dropped afterwards. But as for Yuuri, he had never had a significant other. He tried explaining to Victor, with difficulty, that he didn’t have much interest in relationships at the time, and that he was focusing more on what to do with himself. To his relief, the Russian didn’t push it, though he did look surprised when he told him. 

In contrast, when they talked about ice skating, the mood immediately lightened and the words seemed to flow easily for the both of them. They both understood. They didn’t have to explain the feeling or passion for it like with non-skaters because it was mutually known between both. The crisp sounds of blades gliding across ice, the chilly air, the welcoming atmosphere, the movements so graceful and flowing that it almost felt as if they could fly. 

“So you’ve never done it competitively?” Victor suddenly asked. 

Yuuri shook his head. “No, I don’t think I was ever that good. Plus, I was already too busy with tutoring and other school stuff at the time” He shrugged, but the other could feel the lament in his voice.  
“You didn’t even try?”

Yuuri shook his head again, and Victor looked even more surprised. 

“You don’t think you’re good enough, but I’ll be the judge of that. We’re going ice skating!” 

“What?!” He nearly screeched, not wanting to be judged by someone like Victor. “But- but Makkachin!” Yuuri added, hoping that would convince him that they didn’t have time unless they found the poor dog.

“Oh, right” That made Victor think for a little, looking troubled as he tried to push his decision forward. “We can just got there for a few minutes?”

“Victor-” Yuuri started.

“I want to see how you skate, Yuuri. The way you talk about it makes it sound so magnificent and amazing and passionate! I want to see.” He nearly pleaded, looking at him with wide, hopeful doe-eyes. Yuuri couldn’t say no as much as he wanted to. How could he say no?

“....fine, but you’ll have to show me your skating, too” He reluctantly agreed, not thinking that would make Victor change his mind, but he tried anyways. 

To his surprise, Victor didn’t immediately agree. He frowned a little, thought, then slowly nodded. “Okay, I’ll show you my skating” He complied, not looking as happy as Yuuri thought he would. Was he bad at skating? Yuuri didn’t know why he seemed so reluctant to skate. Maybe he thought he wasn’t good enough either? But that didn’t seem like Victor at all. The man was full of overflowing confidence! He’d just have to wait and see.

***

“No luck over here either!” Yuuri called out to the other with a sigh, this proved to be more difficult than he thought. When he agreed to look for the lost dog, he thought it would be a one day or two day thing. Not that he was complaining though, because it gave him an opportunity to talk to Victor. 

“No? Well...I think we’ve looked all over” Victor jogged towards him, looking disappointed, but an idea seemed to lighten up his mood. “We could go ice skating now, I don’t think we’ll find him today”

Damn, Yuuri had almost forgotten about that! But he already agreed to it, he couldn’t back out now. Forcing a small smile, he nodded and began walking towards the path to the Ice Castle. “I guess so. It’s close so we can walk there” 

It was closer than Yuuri would’ve liked it to be because in about seven minutes, they were at the front doors of the ice rink. With a small breath, Yuuri opened it and was immediately greeted by Yuuko, his childhood friend. 

“Yuuri! What a surprise to see you here!” She called out, grinning at him before she noticed something that made her jaw drop and stare. “I-Is that….V-”

“Victor. You’re one of Yuuri’s friends then? How nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind us skating here for a bit, no interruptions please?” Victor quickly responding, giving her a slightly nervous smile and hurriedly walked to where they could get skates. 

Yuuko seemed like she was frozen, but simply nodded with a weirdly happy smile. Yuuri was so lost. What had even happened right there? It was as if Yuuko knew something he didn’t. Had she met Victor before?

He didn’t have much time to wonder about it though because soon Victor was pulling him to sit down, handing him some skates to wear. A bit reluctantly and still slightly shaken from the rather strange introduction, he took the skates the other offered him and began lacing them up. The act itself brought him an empty nostalgic feeling he tried hard to ignore, but his fingers stumbled in trying to tie a knot. He bit his lip, trying to will the emotion away, whatever it was. It was...suffocating him. 

He blinked once and suddenly he wasn’t with Victor anymore. He was in the same rink, yes, but it looked brand new, like it had just opened weeks ago. Panicking, he stood up from his seat, only to find he was in the middle of the ice rink. Yuuri looked down at his skates, HIS skates. The ones his mother had bought him for his birthday when he was just a teenager. What was going on? What was-

“Yuuri! Over here!” Someone called out, interrupting his thoughts. Though he instantly recognized who it was, he hadn’t heard that tone of voice in years. It was Yuuko; 16 year old Yuuko. She was bright as the sun itself, a smile shining brighter than a clear night sky, she had stars in her eyes. “Are you practicing your jumps? Please do a salchow! Please oh please! You’re always so good!” 

Yuuri’s breath caught in his throat, and for a few moments he just stood there. This was...a memory, though he found it strange he couldn’t remember it until now. And as he glanced around, wondering what to do, his gaze caught Yuuko’s ecstatic look. She was waiting in anticipation. He didn’t have the heart to do much else but listen, so he took a few strides and gave her what she wanted. At least, tried to. The ice felt foreign and slippery to him after years of abandoning it. Yuuri knew what was going to happen the moment his blades left the ice to go for the jump. This was completely and utterly wrong. If there had ever been anything graceful about his skating, now was not the time it showed. He twirled and twisted awkwardly in the air, only managing to get about two rotations before gravity did its work and brought him down; hard. Because he knew what was coming, he was able to put out his hands first before the whole of him came crashing down onto the cold, solid surface. His body trembled from the contact, but he made no noise. That is until he heard someone else calling his name. Not Yuuko, but….Victor? 

“Yuuri! Yuuri, are you alright?” It seemed to be saying, and the man in question opened his eyes. He was back with Victor, as if nothing had happened, but instead of being on the bench he was on the ground. Had he fallen? Yuuri quickly got back up, too embarrassed to take the hand Victor offered.

“S-Sorry, I don’t know...what happened there” He tried to laugh it off awkwardly, though looking at his companion’s confused and worried expression, he realized that would be hard. 

“It’s okay. But you’re sure you’re fine?”

“Yes, I’m fine” Yuuri nodded, though he still felt the emotion in the back of his mind. He thought of telling Victor he didn’t want to skate anymore, but that would just be rude. Carefully standing up now, he gave Victor a small smile and began walking to the ice. The other made sure to follow closely.

“Don’t worry, if you fall I’ll be there to catch you!” Victor offered cheerily as they both stepped onto the ice. Yuuri blushed slightly and made a mental note to avoid falling at all costs. 

The pair eased their blades into the smooth surface of the ice, gliding for a few moments. Yuuri could already tell Victor was no amateur. Just looking at his posture and graceful movements, little things that separated master from beginner. He just didn’t know how much of a master he was. 

“You’re pretty good…” Yuuri stupidly pointed out the obvious, but to his surprise Victor didn’t grin charismatically or affirm his observation. He uncharacteristically ducked his head down slightly and nodded as if he was afraid of being too good. 

“So are you” He breathed out, but after a few seconds he went back to his usual self and smiled at Yuuri, skating closer to him. “Care to teach me any tricks?” He chuckled, sliding to a stop in front of him. 

Yuuri panicked a little, not knowing what he meant by that. Though he searched far into his past and remembered something maybe Victor could try. “W-Well...I did this in a small competition we had, just in our town. It was only for fun, and it really was. It’s just a step sequence. He glided a few safe meters away from Victor before he let the past take over. It was his free skate he dedicated to his friends back in middle school. A serpentine sequence, left and right, letting a leg cross over the other, back inside, back outside. He continued it for a brief second, then glanced over at Victor with a shy smile. To his surprise he was beaming happily, clearly impressed. Yuuri felt pride swell within him, he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. 

“Yuuri! That was wonderful!” 

“Hah, you think so?”

“Yes, of course! Can you do jumps as well?”

“Er-” Yuuri hesitated, having a sudden flashback from whatever had happened before. He could never summon the courage to skate a jump in front of Victor. There was no way, especially without skating for so long. Sadly, he shook his head. “N-No, sorry” He lied. “Even if I could, it would be dangerous for me to try since I haven’t skated in so long, I’m not as flexible. 

“Oh, I see” Victor didn’t sound disappointed, to his surprise. He was really understanding, and Yuuri was glad. He was also about to say something else, but something seemed to hold him back and he changed the subject. “Well you’re very talented already, no doubt about that.”

That seemed to boost some confidence into him, which probably made him do what he did next. He asked, “How about you? Can you do jumps?” 

If the Russian could become paler than he was normally, now would be the time. Yuuri swore he had spotted a glimpse of fear in his expression even if it was for just a split second. 

“Maybe...just a few” He responded with heavy hesitation, looking extremely unsure. Yuuri wondered if this was because he was nervous he would ask him to do them. And he really did want to see the jumps, but Yuuri of all people knew how destructive pressure could be, so he didn’t ask about that. 

“Oh, that’s great! Which ones?”

“Maybe...a salchow” It sounded more like a question than a statement, and it showed in his body language as well. He was no longer making eye contact. Victor seemed to be having difficulty admitting he knew jumps and Yuuri could no longer think of why that was. Even more so to his surprise, after a few moments, Victor offered to do one for him. “Only one” He carefully specified, but Yuuri couldn’t ask for more. 

Looking still a bit unsure, the Russian glided out away from him to give himself space. But once he was away from Yuuri, it was as if a switch had been flipped on. The look Victor had on him couldn’t give out anything else but pure confidence. He skated a few rounds for momentum before the final act, the salchow. It wasn’t an easy jump, either. But the Russian looked unbothered as he sprang from the ice like a snow hare, with the gracefulness of a ballerina. It was virtually perfect, the way his body spun in midair, never once losing composure. It was like something out of a step by step learning video. Once, twice, three times, he spun then it was the landing. Oh god that landing. He made it look like the blade hit some sort of fluffy cotton instead of solid ice because his posture was unchanged with the impact. He held his hands beautifully above his waist, and glided until he somehow ended beside Yuuri once more. He couldn't speak.

“What did you think?” Victor carefully asked, not even out of breath. Only a conditioned athlete wouldn’t be out of breath after that. 

“I-....Victor” He began, staring at him with such awe and confusion. “Don’t tell me you’ve never competed” 

Yuuri could’ve been wrong, in his puzzled, hazy state, but he saw Victor flinch at his words. 

“N-No! I’ve- I’ve-” He realized he was really bad at lying soon enough. “Just a bit. It was nothing major, maybe like you had competitions with your friends. That type of thing” He lied anyways, and with it came his not so genuine smile. 

Yuuri didn’t know what he was trying to hide. If he was good at it then why…? But surely he was in no position to question Victor’s life choices considering his own position in life now. He decided just to nod and go along with it. He definitely didn’t need to know everything about the man before him. “Oh, I see…”

Looking more than relieved, Victor quickly changed the subject, no longer looking comfortable in the ice rink. “Oh, I just realized, we should keep looking for Makka!”

 

“Makka- Oh! Yes! Your dog! We must find him immediately” Yuuri agreed, quickly heading towards the exit, Victor following close behind him again. 

It was strange, how the ice brought both sweet and bitter memories not just to Yuuri but to both of them. Seems they both had a love-hate relationship with it. Still, he couldn’t figure out what made Victor’s memory bitter. He was too curious for his own good, and thought that maybe, with time, he would get to know that story. However, he also knew their time was limited. The closer they came to finding Makkachin, the closer the end of their time together would end. Sometimes he hoped they never found the dog, but the immediate guilt that came afterwards from wishing that frightened him. No, the poor creature was probably out there going hungry and he was not that selfish! 

When they left the rink, they spent the remaining hours of sunlight they had in finding Victor’s beloved dog. However, as night threatened to draw near, they hadn’t made much progress as before. By now it had been three days, and as much as Victor was thrilled with seeing Yuuri all day, it wasn’t nearly enough to replace the ache in his heart whenever he thought about where his loyal companion could be.  
“What if I never find him, Yuuri?” He wailed, his large blue eyes pleading with lost hope. 

“We’ll find him, I’ll make sure of it!” Yuuri quickly reassured him, not wanting him to feel anything like he felt when his own dog passed away. He was pretty sure Victor was more attached to Makkachin than he had ever been attached to Vicchan. And that was saying something. 

But the night dragged on and soon they were back at the pole. Yuuri sighed softly, not wanting Victor to go home alone once again, but they hadn’t succeeded. Even though he tried not to show it, he could tell how tired Victor was. He probably didin’t get enough sleep either. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, though he was doing his best to help. They both stopped once they reached their unspoken destination. That was the night that Yuuri Katsuki would soon remember as ‘The Realization’. 

Victor looked back towards him, their faces highlighted by only the scarce, warm light of the lamp above them. He took a step closer to Yuuri and smiled gently, though it didn’t hide the disappointment behind his gaze. 

“We did all we could, but it’s better if we continue tomorrow” Yuuri started, planning to say goodbye soon after. But Victor had other ideas. 

“We did...but you were still so kind to help me. When we find him, I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you for your time.”

Oh. Yuuri had never thought about payment. Not even once. If it was up to him, his looks would already be a blessing. But he didn’t feel like Victor owed him anything. “Oh uhm, no that’s alright! You- you don’t need to repay me I-”

“Yuuri, you’ve given me so much of your time, there must be something I can do” Victor insisted, though his tone wasn’t all humble. It was rather low and nearly a purr. He didn’t know why or how but it sent a blush to his cheeks, which tried to hide in the shadows. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to work because before he knew it, Victor had reached for his hands and he found himself closer than ever before to him. His face lit up an embarrassing shade of red, but he felt more mesmerized than anything. Even in the darkness, Victor’s eyes were always so so blue. He felt his breath hitch when his hands met with something soft: Victor’s lips. He screamed internally. 

The contact itself lasted less than a second, but the intensity of the moment surged through him again and again, even as they parted ways. Victor’s final words echoed in his head.

“When you think of it, please let me know, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well isnt this late?  
> I want to continue this story so badly, but I rarely have the time oh the struggle!


End file.
